


No Station Called Yesterday

by SomeoneAsGoodAsYou (the_wanlorn)



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: F/M, set post-s3, sorta angsty, “They’re Back; Aren’t They” Fic Exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-15
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-07-12 19:10:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16001495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_wanlorn/pseuds/SomeoneAsGoodAsYou
Summary: A talk they need to have.





	No Station Called Yesterday

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BurningUpASunJustToSayHello](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BurningUpASunJustToSayHello/gifts).



> Look, I meant to write an undercover heist because undercover!Lucifer is always a nice challenge, but then it was August and it was too late, so you get this thing that is only tangentially related to the prompt.
> 
> For the "They're Back; Aren't They" fic exchange. Un-beta'd
> 
> **ETA:** Whoops, forgot the prompt. It was The 1975 - Robbers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyy3YOpxL2k

"So," Chloe said quietly, crouched by the blood trail leading out the front of the convenience store. They were almost done here; she was checking for anything she missed, any obvious clues as to who had killed the guy behind the counter. It was a nice, simple case to ease her back into work after the chaos of the last few months. Robbery gone wrong, all they had to do was wait for the idiot who did it to show up at a hospital.

Lucifer stilled next to her, going tense, and she realized that it might've been the first word she'd spoken to him unprompted since the... since she found out. Since Pierce- Cain died.

_Was killed,_ her brain reminded her. _By Lucifer._

The whole thing had been a clusterfuck, and she shook her head a little, having been staring at the same smear of blood a little too long.

"Yes, Detective?" Lucifer murmured when she didn't continue. She snuck a glance up at him, and quickly looked away when she met his gaze. He looked... wrecked wasn't the right word. She didn't think anyone else would notice the pinched skin around his eyes, the tiredness, the way his hair was just the tiniest bit wavy like he hadn't put enough gel in or something. He just... didn't look like himself.

This was the first case they were working together since she got back from her leave. The first time she had to pretend that everything was normal between them, that she hadn't had the core beliefs of her world turned upside down.

Judging by the looks being shot their way, and careful comments from Ella, she wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"So," she said again. "The Devil."

If at all possible, Lucifer tensed more. "I've never lied to you."

She nodded, pushing herself up from her crouch. "No, you haven't," she admitted, letting out a slow breath, watching him out of the corner of her eye.

"Are you certain this is the place to discuss this?" he asked, shifting his weight back and looking around.

And, no, she wasn't certain. But where would be a good place? She didn't want to go to Lux, not to his territory, and she wasn't sure she wanted him in hers at the moment, not when she was still trying to piece together what it meant that God, etc. were all real. She'd talked to Linda, sure, but there was only so much help she could be before Chloe had to just... sort things out in her head alone.

"You're the Devil," she said again as CSIs milled around the body just far enough away that they couldn't hear her, if she stayed quiet. "The guy- _being_ who tempts people to committing-"

Even if she hadn't been subtly watching, she couldn't have missed the way he flinched, a full body motion that had him taking a step away from her. It made her want to apologize, but she needed answers. No matter how often Linda reassured her that he was the same person she had known before she saw his true face, there was a niggling doubt. A voice in the back of her head that wasn't going to go away until she talked to him.

"I would think you," he said, his voice as stiff as his body, "of all people, Detective, would know that's not true."

"Well what do you expect me to believe?" she asked, bristling slightly. "That centuries of stories are just, what? Propaganda?"

Something flashed across his face, too fast for her to identify but enough for her to know it wasn't something good. She waited for the nervous flare in her stomach that happened when she felt threatened, but it never came.

He turned and walked out without saying another word, and she realized that, yes. That was exactly what she was supposed to believe.

***

As a cop, Chloe knew better than to think that people in trouble told the truth. She trusted what she saw, not what she was told, and she didn't know why it was so different this time. Why it was so hard to compare the Lucifer she knew with the Devil of Christianity and choose her Lucifer as the truth. He claimed her never lied to her, and after three years she was more than willing to take that as the truth. So why was it so damn hard to put aside everything she knew about the Devil from pop culture?

The thought of leaving the crime scene and following Lucifer to Lux — which was surely where he had gone — filled her stomach with dread. She couldn't tease out how much was because she didn't want to confront Lucifer and how much was because she didn't want to be alone with him. Was any of it because she didn't want to be alone with him? Or was it all just because she knew this was a conversation that wasn't going to end with her looking good.

When she walked outside, she fully expected Lucifer's convertible to be gone. Instead, it was still where he had parked it, and he was nowhere to be seen. Where the hell could he have gone? She started to slowly move toward it, scanning the area for Lucifer. Her eyes caught on a flash of color in the little park across the street. Ah.

She could see him, sitting on a bench, hunched over with his head in his hands. As she approached her straightened, dragging a hand over his face before turning to her, flashing a poorly faked smile.

"Hey," she said before he could say anything. "We need to talk. Can I...?" she asked, gesturing toward the empty space on the bench.

He nodded and slid further away, putting space between them. It hurt; of course it hurt. She had killed the easy camaraderie between them in small pieces, every time he called and she didn't pick up, every time he texted and she didn't respond, until he had stopped. He had sounded so relieved when she called to tell him they had a case, like he hadn't expected to hear from her ever again.

All of the bounce in his step was out by the time she sent him running away from her, and he'd gotten quieter and quieter as she couldn't bring herself to face him. It was awkward, trying to work together like nothing had changed when _everything_ had changed. They couldn't go back to the way things were.

She sat, and was silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts. He kept glancing to her — tiny, nervous flickers — but he kept quiet too. Giving her space to figure out what she wanted to say.

"I'm sorry," she finally said. "I'm a cop; I should know better than to just... take what other people say as gospel." She widened her eyes when she realized what she said and added a quick, "Pun not intended."

Lucifer cracked a small smile, but still didn't say anything. So she hurried on.

"I know that's not you. You've told me so many times that's not you, and showed me twice as many that it's not you. I shouldn't have..."

"It's alright," he said finally. "I understand. In your position-" he didn't even smirk at that, which told her more than words ever could "-I wouldn't believe me either."

She sighed. "That's the problem," she said. "I do. Believe you. And it's... it's a huge cognitive dissonance."

"Ah, you've been talking to the good doctor," he said, a shadow of a smirk on his face. "She was quite... unnerved when she found out."

"Yeah," Chloe said. "She said. Look." She shifted, turning on the bench until she was angled toward him, patiently waiting until he did the same and met her gaze. "I can't pretend that everything is just going to go back to the way things were. This is... I've spent months trying to wrap my mind around it on my own and with Linda. And it's... not really working. I have so many questions that she can't answer-"

"Then ask," he said, his face full of earnestness. "I'll tell you anything, I just..." The earnestness faded. "I'm sorry. I should have shown you the wings as soon as I discovered my face was gone."

"I know," she said. "It's... It's not okay, but I think I understand why you didn't and I don't- I don't blame you."

He nodded, his hands twisting in his lap as he said, "May I ask you a question?"

"Sure," she said. "Go for it."

"Can- Can we ever get back to... to what we were?" He didn't look at her, instead focusing on his hands as he stilled and deliberately placed them on his knees.

She was shaking her head before he even finished, and as soon as she said, "No-" his face crumbled for the briefest instant before a blank mask came over him, and she realized what, exactly, he was asking.

"No," she said again, grabbing his nearest hand and squeezing. "Listen to me. Before... I didn't have all the information before. I couldn't see the full picture. I thought you were crazy. You get that, right? I thought you were _insane_. But you weren't dangerous, so I-"

He looked as thought she had struck him, drawing backward and interrupting with a tight, "I would _never_ hurt-"

"I know," she said, and she did. She did know, with sudden, perfect clarity, that he wasn't going to hurt her. How many times had he had the chance? How many times had he saved her life? She might be _nothing_ compared to an ex-archangel like him, she might be nervous around him, but she didn't think she had ever worried that he would turn on her.

Never seriously, at least. Even when she had been thinking about it, reluctant to answer his calls or go to Lux, her heart wasn't in it. If she had just listened to her heart from the start, maybe they would still be...

"I know," she repeated. "My point was, I was willing to... get involved with you when I thought you were delusional. This isn't any worse." He grimaced and she hurried on. "But it's going to be different. We can't go back to be exactly what we were, and I know that's what you want, and I'm sorry. But we can go forward. And..." She glanced up at him, saw the cautious hope in his eyes, and couldn't stop the soft smile the spread over her face in return. "And I think we can be better."

"Better," he said, tasting the word with a slow smile. "I like the sound of that."

"Now," she said with one last squeeze of his hand before she let go. "We have a murderer to catch."


End file.
